Deirdre Reynolds: Dearbhla Mescal shows why there’s no-one like the proud Irish Mammy

Mothering Sunday is here and there isn’t a box of Lindor balls left to be had in the land.

Not to worry, since all the woman who brought you into the world supposedly wants today is your ‘presence’ - and, if you believe that, may the gods of Chanel No.5 help you when you show up empty-handed later on.

Visibly bursting with pride as her son’s name was called out, Dearbhla Mescal was flying the flag for Irish Mammies everywhere at last weekend’s Academy Awards in LA.

Still, you can be damn sure that Best Actor nominee Paul isn’t too big for a clip around the ear should he forget to drop the garda mam-of-three a wee text today.

And isn’t that what we love most about these complex, caring, cuddly, but caustic-when-called-for women who keep the show on the road in homes up and down the country.

Like my own mother did, she’s currently undergoing treatment for cancer with good humour and grace, recently resolving on The Ray D’Arcy Show to tackle the disease with positivity: “It’s how you react - do you dance in the rain or do you sit in the corner?”

In the lead up to Mother’s Day, my third as a motherless daughter, it got me thinking about some of the similarly wise words imparted by my own biggest cheerleader over the years.

‘It’s only hair’ hit differently when she began to lose some of hers due to illness, but as a teenager, I can still picture the ‘What the f***?’ look perfected by beleaguered Irish mams down through the decades, as she walked in on me dying my black hair a screaming fuschia.

When, uncharacteristically, she bit her tongue - figuring that going around looking like a bad Pink tribute act during my formative years was punishment enough - it was an early lesson in picking your battles, understanding the bigger picture and not messing about with bleach.

If only she’d stopped me from massacring my eyebrows too.

But Paul’s mammy wasn’t the only one in the spotlight at the Oscars, with several stars including Best Supporting Actor Ke Huy Quan and recently bereaved Ruth Carter, who took the gong for Best Costume Design, paying tribute to their mothers during a distinctly maternal ceremony, which also saw mum-of-two Jamie Lee Curtis bag her first baldie at the age of 64.

The Everything Everywhere All at Once actor - who has given her Oscar ‘they/them’ pronouns in honour of her transgender daughter, Ruby - famously crossed paths with an Irish Mammy™ when she visited Dublin last year.

In a video shared on social media by the A-lister, Margaret McNamara showcased the real-life version of the classic “bye, bye, bye, bye” phone call sign-off, while beating another drum beloved of the mothers of single adults here, telling her: “I don’t want to take up your time, you’re a busy person… and your children are all married so you’re grand.”

On this family celebration, I hope Margaret’s kids bring her home what she clearly wants most for Mother’s Day - a future son or daughter in law.

Like some Aldi version of American woman Anna Jarvis - credited with creating Mother’s Day in 1908 when she sent 500 white carnations to a church in her West Virginia hometown in honour of her late mother, Ann - I’ll be sticking to graveyard flowers in memory of someone who, like all practical Mammies today, probably would’ve just given out: “Don’t be wasting your money.”